Body After Baby: 6 Month Update

I’m in denial. My baby girl is now 6 months old (as of Monday). I think she must be in denial as well because we’re going on a week of being up 2-3 times at night, fussing during the day and general screamy-ness. I’ll take baby who used to sleep 10 hours straight for $1,000, Alex…

But that’s a story for another day.

How am I doing?

Overall, I’m feeling pretty awesome. Aside from the recent lack of sleep and constant lack of patience (I’m only human…) I feel good. When I think back to 6 months after Mr. O. was born, I was training hard for my second half marathon, putting in a lot of miles and at the time, thinking I was feeling pretty good. By comparison…well, there is no comparison from then to now. I was convinced that I needed to get back to running as soon as possible and really over extended myself. I’m proud of my accomplishment but I’m certainly not rushing to get back to that distance this time around. I’ve gradually been running more and more (with my first outdoor run FINALLY happening this past weekend!) and focusing on re-balancing my extremely unbalanced body and doing what I can to heal my core (I’ve been slacking on my Mutu exercises, I need to get back on that). I really want to focus on moving better, moving stronger and moving smarter. So far, I have no regrets about my approach other than wishing I’d done it sooner! I still have fatigue and I still have aches and pains but overall, I know I’m moving better and even though I’m not putting in miles upon miles, I feel so much stronger.

I would say that my biggest struggle is, and likely will continue to be my tummy. I’ve grown to embrace it for what it is-a reminder that I grew three (rather large) babies. I may have this pooch for the rest of my life but it’s not a reflection of me in any way. I do need to remind myself of this more often and stop looking at the pooch-less mom’s around me.

How is the Little Lady doing?

This little girl is growing like crazy! We started cereal with her a couple of weeks ago and after some initial disinterest, she’s a remorseless eating machine. We’ll be starting other foods with her soon. I love her enthusiasm for eating. She’s definitely her mother’s daughter

Breastfeeding is still going strong! Now that she’s teething (no teeth yet though), we’ve had some days that have been harder than others but she’s still interested and I’m more than ok with that.

Overall, I feel good. It’s only taken me 3 kids but I finally feel like a mom. I have a contentment about being at home that I didn’t have with my other two maternity leaves. I think a large part of that was that I was searching for my identity outside of being a mom and categorizing myself according to what I thought I should be to other people and not who I am in God’s eyes. I’ve been exploring that a lot over the last 6 or so months and I think the little revelations I’m getting are finally allowing me to see who I am and who I am becoming. It’s both exciting and scary! Being a mom is a large part of who I am but it’s not my entire story. I love being a mom to my kids and I love the identity that’s forming outside of motherhood.

Girls club for the win!

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Stephanie

Stephanie is a Canadian Mom of 3, Runner, Certified Functional Strength Coach (CFSC), Christ-follower and all around reeker of awesomeness. When she's not chasing after her kids, you can find her dreaming big dreams and bringing them to life.

Such a cutie!! I think that identity shift to “mom” to “who am I if not a mom now” has been huge for me too. It’s hard to explain, but I’m glad you’re feeling more content with who you are as a mom and woman.

You look amazing and sound like you are feeling so much more confident with where you are. I feel like it took me the better part of a year to feel good about my body and my identity as a mom. Honestly, I still struggle with my identity, it is so hard to not always want something more.

I totally get it. It took me 3 kids to realize and fully accept that it’s ok to want more and to go after more. I think if our kids see the passion in us, it encourages them to look for the same in their lives.

I was a big runner pre-baby (my baby girl is 9 months) and I still haven’t gotten back to the routine I was doing before. I think so much of keeping your body healthy is sleep – which I am extremely deprived of right now!

On those nights where I am up 2 – 3 times a night, I try to get on a long walk, but my energy isn’t there to run. I definitely feel guilty, but I know it will come back eventually!

Oh I totally agree!! That’s the big lesson I’ve learned this time around. Sleep trumps all else. When I think back to how I was running like crazy after my second, it’s a wonder I didn’t flame out sooner. I’m enjoying the gradual easing back into routine.

I’m 6 years post partum (lol) but I’m struggling with a small diastasis that never bothered me before, until now. I just had umbilical hernia surgery (the hernia came through the gap) and I need to try and heal the DR before pushing more and ending up with another hernia. I keep hearing about the MUTU system, but yikes, $100…is it really worth it?

I had a tough, tough time deciding on whether to spend the money too. In the end, I did and I was happy. I’d gotten down to about a 1.5-2 finger gap but I couldn’t feel any connective tissue underneath so I had basically just done a cosmetic fix. Now, I can feel the connective tissue and it’s about one knuckle deep at the worst part (belly button) and completely healed at others. My core is very, very strong compared to before.